


Laws Of Bygones

by XtaticPearl



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Mob, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2017-06-26
Packaged: 2018-11-18 10:12:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11289144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XtaticPearl/pseuds/XtaticPearl
Summary: One ran a mob, the other chased them. But there was a stream of memories and past chasing both of them, across lives and universe. An incomplete story will be retold again, with the same heroes, a reborn love, and a revenge burning for centuries.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Missy_dee811](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missy_dee811/gifts).



  
The tragedy about mobs was that their stories always began with somebody’s funeral or wedding. Happy would say that they were the same, but Happy was working with his ex-wife who had asked his boss to kill him in grief; his opinion didn’t exactly sound unbiased. The tragedy remained, therefore, in Tony’s eyes that a mob’s story always began with a gathering that had bad music and worse food.

If Tony were to write the story, it would begin with a bad idea. And an explosion, though both went hand in hand when it came to him. Anyway, it would always begin with somebody saying they didn’t have a choice before doing something stupid.

“Rhodey shot Wilson,” Pepper announced as she walked into his office, her heels sinking into the scarlet carpet, “He says he had no choice.”

Like that.

“Any good news?” Tony leaned back on his high chair and looked up from his monthly report of the warehouses they were monitoring.

“Wilson survived,” Pepper said and sank into the dark chair opposite to Tony, toeing off her heels and shooting Tony a wry look.

The good stories began with bad decisions, Tony mentally corrected himself, but the great ones began with bad decisions that led to worse consequences. Like an officer surviving a bullet from a mobster.

“Any witnesses?”

“It’s Rhodey,” Pepper raised an eyebrow and Tony nodded in acceptance.

“Fair enough, no witnesses then,” he commented, stretching his arms and linking his hands behind his head, “What’s the problem then?”

“Rogers is the one on the case now,” Pepper said with a pinched look and a cutting glance, “And he’s pissed.”

“He’s been pissed since he got into that uniform,” Tony snorted, “Shouldn’t have made it two sizes smaller.”

“Tony”

“Pepper,” Tony returned her tone before sighing, “Why do you nag me about things you can handle with one hand tied? You’ve handled Rogers before. You can do it again.”

“No, _you’ve_ handled him before,” Pepper corrected him with an amused grin, “I’ve handled your mess and clean-up. Which I hope I never have to do again”.

“It’s good to hope, Potts. The world runs on hope,” Tony grinned and tilted his head to observe her, “Really, Pepper. What’s the problem here? So Rogers is on the case. Do the usual. Pull Rhodey in, put either Viz or Happy out as bait, and throw in a bone of either Hammer or Vanko’s latest news for Rogers to catch. You know the drill. You created the drill.”

“It’s not that simple this time”

“Why not?“

“Hammer threw out a bone against us,” Pepper took a breath and held Tony’s gaze, “Tony, he leaked Spider-Man’s identity.”

Tony heard the whirring of a drill somewhere downstairs, the faint strains of  _Equinox_ from the jazz bar next door, and the soft chime of a customer entering the salon above them. He heard them all but only through the rush in his ears. 

 Mob stories were great and made good legends. But Tony would never write one at the cost of a kid’s life.

“Fix the set-up,” he said in the tone that only came out when he dealt with death and monsters above it, “It’s time to distract Officer Rogers through a meeting with a bigger bone.” 

 Pepper, like she always did, simply picked out her phone and prepared for the worst.

 -x-x- 

 Steve turned off the radio when he reached the defunct warehouse 12 on Carter Street. Radiohead’s Optimistic dwindled into silence as he looked out his window and considered the place.

To an untrained eye it would look like just another warehouse; abandoned, dormant, and quiet in its existence. Steve knew better though. He had seen a lot many good men walk into such warehouses and walk out on shoulders of their friends, in cold coffins. He had heard a lot many stories and lived a lot many tales of injuries and scars that came out of such warehouses. They weren’t always abandoned. 

They were a test of survival. 

“All units stay alert,” he whispered into his hidden comm and opened his car door to get out, “We can’t afford any mistakes." 

 His shoes crushed strewn pieces of glass and gravel as Steve walked to the door of the warehouse and eyed the red shutter button on its right end. He pressed on it but nothing happened. If Natasha’s intel were true, he was supposed to meet a whistleblower on the Iron Legion, the mob that had made the department look like headless chicken with every case they lost them in. Sam had come close to nabbing one of its members last week but had been shot in the shoulder for his efforts. Steve knew that it was unfair to be frustrated, but he wished Sam had seen the man’s face at the least. 

 The whistleblower he had come to meet today was an ex-employee of Stane Industries, the company that Iron Legion had destroyed to the ground a few months back. Natasha said that he had been personally hurt by the mob’s boss and had escaped by the skin of his teeth. It was understandable then why he had been hesitant to come out in the open. Steve just hoped that the man, Knight Natasha said his name was, could come through for them now. 

 Steve pressed the button once more and heard some noise from within the warehouse. He moved back and tensed up, one hand close to the gun on his hip. The shutter rattled in a minute before Steve saw it open up, the place dark inside.  

"Are you Steve Rogers?” a voice asked and Steve tried to find a form in the darkness. 

 "Yes, do you have some light?“ he asked, eyes still trained on the source of the voice. 

 "Uh, yeah, I think so, wait a minute,” the voice coughed and Steve heard a small swear before a sound of victory. There was a click of a lighter and Steve took a step forward as the fire of the lighter slowly brightened to reveal the face of a man. 

 "Hi" the man smiled awkwardly and looked around Steve’s shoulder, “Sorry, are you - you’re Steve Rogers, right?" 

 "Yes, and you are Mr. Knight?” Steve asked and the man nodded. His eyes seemed to be darting around Steve’s surroundings and Steve cleared his throat. 

“Do you want to go inside or…?" 

 "What? Oh! Sorry!” the man fumbled and moved inside, “Watch your step, there’s a bump I think, yeah sure, come in." 

 "There’s no light?” Steve asked, even as he moved inside, following Knight’s lighter. 

 "Oh, um, yeah, the fuse kinda went off,“ the man chuckled awkwardly, leading Steve inside, "You don’t always check warehouses before renting them, right? I mean, there’s no website or recommendations or anything for them. You just grab the first empty one you get." 

 "Right,” Steve said and looked around him, finding nothing really visible in clarity, “Do you think we could find something else to get some more light first?" 

 "Oh, uh, sure?” Knight turned around and looked at Steve, “Do you, um, have a flashlight or something?" 

 Steve nodded and reached into his pocket to grab the pocket flashlight, taking it out and switching it on. Knight brought up a hand and shielded his eyes when the light hit him directly. "Oh sorry, here, sorry,” Steve lowered his torch and Knight switched off his lighter, bringing his hand down to look up at Steve again. In the better and slightly brighter light, Steve caught a good look of the man and felt himself freeze. 

 The man had the most gorgeous pair of warm brown eyes and a jaw as sharp as a knife. He wore a pair of black rimmed glasses but they did nothing to hide the startling wonder of his eyes, large and expressive in every blink. Steve was never the kind of man to let his emotions loose during a job but there was something about the slight smile and twinkle in the eyes of this man that made his blood sing. Some pull in that face that hit Steve’s gut like a faded laugh. 

 "Hi, okay, now I see you,“ Knight smiled shyly, an awkward and soft tilt of his lips, and Steve had to squash a rising temptation to keep his eyes on those lips.

 "Yeah, I see you too,” Steve replied dumbly and pulled himself together when the man’s expression turned mildly confused, “So, Mr. Knight, I’m glad that I finally found you. Do you have something good for me?" 

 "I don’t know about good,” Knight huffed ruefully and shrugged, “But whatever I’ve got, I’ll give it to you.” Steve was sure that it wasn’t intended to sound flirtatious but he still had to will his interest down before nodding.  

“I’m all ears" 

 "Oh, um, I just start talking?” Knight blinked at Steve and Steve shrugged.  

“Sure" 

 "Okay,” the man cleared his throat before looking back at Steve seriously, “I met Iron Man, the boss of Iron Legion, when I was working with SI. He, uh, he had some problems with my boss and I guess decided one day that he was going to settle it once and for all." 

 "The reactor blast,” Steve chimed in and Knight nodded jerkily. 

 "Yeah, that,“ he took a stuttering breath, "Stane told his employees to leave him alone in the research basement and asked just a few of us engineers to help him work on one of our oldest projects, the Arc Reactor. One of us, Doctor Yinsen, said that we couldn’t weaponize the reactor’s energy since it went against the oldest policy set by Mr. Stark -" 

 "Anthony Stark? I thought he was dead in that jet crash over Afghanistan?,” Steve frowned and Knight laughed humourlessly. 

 "Oh he died alright,“ he shook his head ,"but not before sending an announcement through his PA, Ms. Virginia, that the arc reactor project’s weapons section would be shut down. Virginia spoke about it to Stane but…I guess they had some altercation. Anyway, Virginia was fired the same day and Stane never made the announcement public." 

 "But Yinsen knew about it,” Steve surmised, now engrossed in the story. 

 "Yes, he had been close to Stark and he knew about it,“ Knight sounded sadly fond when he spoke before his voice grew bitter, "He told Stane that he was going against the policy set by Stark but Stane was adamant. He fired Yinsen and then dragged him out of the basement when the man wouldn’t leave. We all…well, we never saw Yinsen again, so I assume Stane threw him out for good.”

 "How did Iron Man know about this?“ 

 "I’m not sure,” Knight shook his head, “We were working on the reactor and transferring its energy into a miniaturized core Stane had arranged when Stane got a call and he took it.” Knight took a deep breath and looked Steve in the eye. “Stane looked like he’d heard a ghost, Mr. Rogers,” he said in a hushed voice, “Nobody had ever seen Obadiah Stane lose control but that day he almost did. He said just two words before rushing out of there like a bat out of hell." 

 "What were the words?” Steve asked and Knight’s mouth twisted. 

 "Iron Man" he said and ran a hand over his face, “I didn’t see anything else till the ceiling broke and Stane fell into the reactor, burning to a crisp. But as we all ran from there, I stumbled on the miniaturized core and before I could do anything with it, I felt someone hold my shoulder." 

 "That day I looked into the eyes of Iron Man, Mr. Rogers,” Knight said in a haunted voice, “I see those eyes in my nightmares every night. Those lifeless, piercing blue eyes. They had no soul. No emotion in them. It was like staring into a dead man’s face. Cold. Robotic.”  

“And you can identify him?” Steve pressed on. 

 "In my sleep,“ Knight said confidently. "I remember him like I remember my own face." 

 "That’s good,” Steve declared and reached down into his pocket to bring out the declaration form he had brought with him, “I’m really glad that you finally decided to come out, Mr. Knight. This will help us more than you could know." 

 "Of course,” Knight smiled a bit before eyeing Steve curiously, “May I ask a question though?" 

 "Sure" 

 "Why do you want to catch Iron Man so much?" 

 "Sorry?" 

 "I mean,” Knight shrugged a bit, “apart from him being a mob boss and such, why do you want to catch him? What do you see wrong in him?" 

 "Everything,” Steve answered as he found the form and brought it out, “He’s a threat." 

 "To what?" 

 "Freedom,” Steve replied and shook the paper open, offering it to Knight, “Iron Man and his gang are a threat to the freedom of people. They’re selfish, uncaring about those who fight for the good, and unworthy of their power." 

 "Really?” Knight asked as he read through the form, “And who decides that?”

 "Decides what?“ 

 "The part about them being a threat to freedom,” Knight began pacing as he read the form with a small frown, “You said they’re a threat to the freedom of people, right? Which people? The ones who threaten the freedom and lives of others or those who are threatened every day? And why are they selfish or unworthy of their power?" 

 "Because they break the law at their whims,” Steve frowned, suspicious at the turn of the conversation. 

 "The law?“ Knight stilled and laughed lightly, "You think that the law is worthy, Officer Rogers? That wearing a blue uniform makes people right while wearing a suit makes someone wrong? The law shoots those who hold a gun, Officer. Is that still right if the one holding the gun was just someone trying to save his family from a seemingly weaponless man with power? The law questions based on things they see, but do they ask the real questions about what they saw? You speak about freedom, but you don’t tell me who’s freedom you protect." 

 "Mr. Knight…" 

 "Iron Man doesn’t ride in cars with sirens, Rogers,” Knight smirked sharply, eyes glinting, “and his team doesn’t wear medals of honour to parade. And yet, he managed to stop a war monger while the law seeks to protect men like Stane.”

 "Who are you?“ Steve asked and pulled out his gun, training it on the man in front of him.

 "The one you’ve been looking for,” the man grinned and in one swoop, came closer to whisper, “And the one you’ll never stop chasing." 

 Steve was about to pull the trigger when the man whistled and Steve realized quite late that he had been lured into the warehouse on purpose. An explosion from behind him, pushed Steve forward and made him lose his balance. The other man moved away but not before Steve’s outstretched hand caught hold of his hip and ripped the shirt when he fell. He tried clutching at the waist of the man but the flashlight had been knocked out and Steve was stumbling into the ground. He heard a gasp though and felt his own hands burn when the man slipped through his fingers. 

 "What…" 

 "Run!” a new voice yelled, before Steve could get up and run behind the source of the sound 

_“Run!"_

_"Not without you!” strong fingers clutched at the sides of his face and a warm but bloody mouth pressed against his lips ,“Not without you, beloved!"_

_"Please -"_

_"Live or die, we do it together, my heart,” another kiss was pressed into his mouth and he felt the heartbeat of his dearest in that second._

_"Together,“ he whispered even as they heard the yells of the soldiers geowing louder behind them_

Steve heard the sounds of barrels falling and snapped out of the strange flash of a weird haze. 

 "Odinson! We’ve got runners!” he yelled into his comm and scrambled to his feet, feeling shakier than a normal fall should warrant. 

 As he chased out of the warehouse, into an empty lot, Steve felt a mixture of remembered sorrow and regret meld with a present fury and betrayal. His palm tingled as he tried to block out the memory of a bloody kiss and the sight of warm brown eyes. 

 He had failed. Steve didn’t know why he felt like it wasn’t the first time.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. Okay, I DID NOT expect such a response but thank you all so much! Since you guys asked, here's a chapter 2.

Tony felt his hip burn as he junped down the hidden crate behind the warehouse. His breath was coming in controlled bursts but he kept his legs tucked in and his arms locked under his knees as he slid down the tunnel to the hide-out.

"Happy, punch it!" he grit out as he crossed the third curve of the tunnel and heard an affirmative grunt in his ear-piece. Tony knew that the grass patch would slide back over the hole of the crate and would be automatically sealed smooth. There would be no evidence of a trap door or an escape passage to anyone who wasn't digging. 

The slide was a fast rush in the last bit and Tony crouched low as landing approached, rolling over on the hard floor when he hit it before getting to his feet.

"That was a goddamned stupid thing to do!" Bethany snarled as she hit the button to shut the tunnel from inside the hide-out. "You just showed your face to a cop, Tony. A fucking cop. What's wrong with you?!" she asked with a frustrated look as she turned to shoot him a narrowed look, her red hair messy out of the French braid.

"Quite a lot, do you really want me to start a list?" Tony dusted his pants and walked towards the table set against the wall across the room, "Honestly, Cabe, relax. It's fine. It all went according to plan."

"Really. And what plan was that?" Bethany asked as she tossed him a bottle of water and caught the folded piece of paper he tossed in turn, "Better yet,  _why_ weren't we told about this plan? I found out about this madness fifteen minutes ago from Rhodey, Tony."

"And yet you made it on time," Tony grinned before taking a swig of water and closing his eyes, letting the cool liquid calm his racing nerves.

The flashes from the moment Rogers' hand clutched his hip were still vivid in Tony's mind. It felt like he was living in someone's dream and the suffocation of that awareness didn't leave him.

"This...is wonderful," Bethany commented from across the room as she read the paper but Tony felt a jolt pass through him. Unbiddens to thought, he remembered the voices and the feel of those hallucinations, a shudder passing through his spine.

 _"This is_ wondrous, _sire," fingers brushed over the the welded greaves that held hidden compartments to hold the deadly mixture, "You - you are truly the brightest mind of the land."_

_"Now, my love, do you defeat my joy on purpose?" metal, armoured fingers slid through golden hair with the caress of a fond habit, "In our world, when it is just you and your love illed fool, where do sires come? You wound me, my moon."_

_"Oh that would never be right for your moon, would it, my star?" a teasing laugh madr him huff before give into laughter as rough, war hardened fingers tickled up his calves._

_"You are a tyrant!"_

_"And you this tyrant's rising sun," the words were drowned in echoing laughs as strong hands pulled him down into a familiar circle of arms._

"You think we can strong-arm this guy?" Bethany asked and Tony hid his shaking hands in the extra moment he took to drink one last gulp of water.

"Strong-arm him? I'm not sure that's gonna be necessary, Beth," Tony shook his head and crushed the bottle before throwing it into the trash can nearby.

"Tony's right," Rhodey said as he entered the room, waving a tablet at them, "We've got we needed. Now all we need to do is play him and get his superiors to believe that he's unfit for it."

"Which," Tony cleared his throat and pointed at Bethany, "should be easy, considering that we placed him in his own trap."

"What about him seeing you though?"

"Nothing better to seal an insanity deal than claims of seeing a dead man, Beth," Tony smiled bitterly and nodded at Bethany, "Who knows that better than you?"

The ex-security head of SI huffed and shot Tony a small smile of her own. She had joined the gang in the worst way possible, but Tony considered it to be her best trust of character. He still had a bullet mark on his shoulder to prove her aim, conviction, and fearlessness. And she had a cover of her identity to prove the gang's loyalty to her.

"You got the signature?" Rhodey asked as he tapped on his screen and held out a hand to Beth, taking the offered paper with a small smirk, "Well, here goes another name off our backs."

The plan had been simple and brilliant in its concept. With the environment tense in the department after Rogers' partner had been shot, it was only expected that the blond, righteous officer would try to hunt down Iron Man at any cost. To touch him in any way would be inviting the ire of the entire department and Rhodey had warned Tony off that route a long time back. 

But if they made Rogers dig his own grave, make his own mistakes, then they would have nothing to point towards them. 

Tony had deactivated Rogers' comm when he had lured him into the warehouse and Happy had kept an eye on the back-up from the roof of the warehouse. They had kept the warehouse dark to prevent anyone to believe that Rogers had actually met anyone inside it. There was no bloodshed. No fingerprints. No proof for Rogers to prove that he had actually met Knight or any one in that warehouse. Combined with the blood sample report Pepper had meddled with a few hours back, a lot of suspicions would rise to less savoury options for Rogers' claims. 

Of course, the man's history with inability to back down from dangers and thirst for fights also played into the plea for desperation and possible borderline hallucinations or even insanity. It wasn't nice but Tony hadn't formed a mob to be nice to cops.

Even those who had brilliant azure eyes that reminded him of an unknown pang in his chest.

"Alright, this one's done," Tony clapped his hands once and walked towards Rhodey with a smirk, "How about we move forward to some actual work?"

"Hammer time?" Rhodey asked deadpanned and Tony laughed as he swung an arm over his oldest friend, walking beside him to go set an annoying nemesis right as Beth rolled her eyes before following them.

Nobody commented on Tony's torn shirt and he was glad for it. He didn't think he would have any answer that would make any sense.

Or not land him proven insane himself.

-×-×-×

Steve wanted to punch something. Hard. 

"I'm not crazy," he snapped and cursed himself when the officer stared at him like he was proving her suspicion right. Losing bis temper was the worst thing he could do at the moment but it was also the only thing he seemed capable of doing.

"Nobody's calling you crazy, Steven," Thor said calmly, eyeing the balled fists resting on Steve's thighs with composed patience, "The Chief and the others are simply concerned by the ... circumstances."

"Or the craziness of them," Clint supplied with a lazy smirk, dangling his feet from the table he was seated on. The sharpshooter popped another piece of gum into his mouth and looked at Steve with teasing eyes. "Because you know, you see  _dead people._ "

"He wasn't dead," Steve grit his teeth and took a deep breath, "I'm telling you, it was him. The same guy in those pictures. Anthony Stark."

"You mean the Mummy of Anthony," Clint suggested and raised his hands in mock surrender when Steve glared at him, "What? Dude, you really expect a dead guy to reappear four years later, meeting you in an abandoned warehouse, using a lighter because the lights were out, and telling you a wild story that is  _completely insane_ because Obadiah Stane died of a fucking heart attack? And a dead guy tells you that a mob boys had blue eyes that looked like a robot? Steve, come on."

"I'm not lying!" Steve shouted and glared at the officer who was guarding the room when he tightened his grip on his gun, "What are you looking at?!"

"Yep, totally normal," Clint hummed ubder his breath and Steve got up from the bed with fury, only to be blocked by Thor.

"Steven.."

"Rogers!" a loud voice snapped from the doorway and they looked to see Nick Fury, the Chief, stalking in, his good eye staring Steve down, "Your blood reports came back. A comparison shows hallucinatory drug residual in your last test."

"That's impossible!" Thor exclaimed but Steve felt the wind knocked out of his lungs. A drug accusation. He had already got two warnings for his temperament from the old Chief, a sleazy cop who hated Steve. This third one meant something large. A permanent blot.

He remembered nabbing the drug ring from Brooklyn the previous month. He knew that the talks would start now. The gossip, the linking, the looks, and the silence. 

"Sir," he said quietly and had to swallow hard to stop the crack in his voice, "Sir, I didn't lie. I don't take drugs. I would never."

"You and I can say that, son," Fury told him with a serious look, "but the reports speak a different language. Your comm was off, so nobody can vouch for you either. All we have is the proof we can see and the proof you speak."

"I don't lie, sir," Steve said lowly and Fury looked empathetic for a minute before shaking his head.

"I'd rather you did right now, Rogers," he sighed, clapping a hand on Steve's shoulder, "Sometimes the truth makes you a liar for life. I'm sorry, son. You're suspended until further notice."

Steve watched numbly as Fury walked away and could distantly hear Thor huff and rant about the unfairness of the entire thing. Clint had gone eerily silent and that was a rant in its own. The room was still and yet Steve felt like his world had spun in the wrong direction at a speed he couldn't keep up with.

He felt frozen in that minute. And the cold was caught in his bones.

Bruce, the forensics guy who had sat beside Steve sometimes during lunch, came around later to offer quiet, stammered apologies. He said that he didn't know how this happened or why the higher ops were believing it. Clint kept up his silence but glared a couple of gossiping officers down when they stared at Steve as he packed up his stuff. Thor alternated between fervent cursing of the situation and awkward questions about the incident till Steve had asked him to leave it alone.

Steve was near the entrance of the building, carrying his stuff in a box, when he saw a redhead standing in his way.

"Leaving?" Natasha asked calmly and Steve glanced at her before glancing at a spot beyond her shoulder.

"You got a better idea?"

"Do what you always do," she shrugged and Steve looked at her to find a calculating look in her eyes.

"What've you got, Nat?"

"You trusted my intel about Knight," she said in a low tone, "and you never said my name in the office. I don't like being wrong and I don't like being played. Whoever he was, whoever you saw, played us all."

Steve caught the thread of what she was talking and narrowed his eyes.

"And he thinks he has won," he said slowly, letting the picture settle in his mind, "he thinks I'm out of his way. "

"His guard will be down," Natasha said and Steve stared at her.

"What's your plan?"

"Take him down," Natasha said simply and Steve felt his skin tighten with determination as he shifted the box in his arms.

"Take them all down," he corrected, staring down at his badge glinting on top of his pile in the box.

-×-×-×-

Tony was driving back from Hammer's hide-out, AC/DC blasting in his car, when his phone rang.

"Hello", he switched on the bluetooth and frowned at the number flashing on the screen, "Rumiko?"

" _Hello, old friend_ " a male voice answered and Tony felt his blood run cold at the amused venomous tone. It felt like a call of a nightmare.

An alien nightmare that felt too familiar in his soul.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Want more? Let me know in a comment!


	3. Chapter 3

"What do you mean  _hostage_?" Pepper demanded as Happy took a sharp right, narrowly missing a parked bike, "And where's Tony?"

"It's Rumiko, Pepper," Rhodey's voice sounded tense in the background of a speeding car's tyres, "Obviously Tony's going right into the mess."

"Of course," Pepper sighed on a frustrated breath, flicking her hand to signal Happy, "I'll get there as soon as I can. But Rhodey..."

"I know, I know," Rhodey replied over the phone and Pepper knew that his nerves were frazzled too, "He's risking too much. But he'd do the same for us and we'd do the same for him."

"One day this'll get us all killed," Pepper huffed on an exasperated laugh as she cocked her gun in one hand.

"Should have known before we became merchants of death, boss," Rhodey quipped and Pepper rolled her eyes before flipping the phone shut.

"One minute away," Happy grubted as he swerved the car into the next lane, Pepper grabbing the handle above her in time.

"Happy, you can't actually make the car fly," she shot her ex-husband a quick look but the burly driver kept his eyes trained on the road ahead.

"We've seen dead men live. This ain't big, sweetheart," Happy countered and Pepper shook her head at his obstinate glare at the road. 

"Don't call me that," she muttered and pushed her phone into her jacket's pocket, "Park the car a block away from the apartment."

Happy complied with a mere grunt and slid the car in front of a block away from Rumiko Fujikawa's apartment. He shared a look with Pepper before both of them got out of the car with their guns under their jackets. Pepper nodded at Happy before walking towards the front door while she knew that Happy would be covering the back. It was better that way.

She always did prefer opening doors to kicking them in. And somehow managed to get it done that way through the toughest situations.

She just hoped that her boss took her way too this time.

-×-×-×-

Rumiko eyed the masked woman sitting on the dark green chair opposite to her, observing the slow drag of the cigarette trapped between her dark lips. Dressed in a night coloured suit and a golden mask covering half her face, the woman exuded all the grace of a practiced hand at winning. 

"How did you know about Tony?" she asked, noting the still unconscious Tiberius being pushed upright beside her. Ru didn't know if she wished to feel annoyed that they had dragged the blond businessman into this because of her or feel mollified that they had opted to knock him out after his first offer of bribe.

The masked woman's lips curved into the slightest smile and she tipped her ash onto the ash-tray handed to her by one of her henchmen. "How does one know about a special mask in masquerade gathering?" she took a drag of the smoke and blew it out in ringlets, "You keep a track of its cracks and weathering. Tony and I, we're both people born into masks and it doesn't take much for one to know the other."

"And still you believed him dead for four years now," Rumiko tried to feel through her bonds slowly as she kept a neutral expression on her face, "Did you lose interest in him to bother checking?"

"I had a bigger stake in Tony's life than you'll ever have," the woman laughed and Rumiko had lived in the circuit long enough to understand innuendos easily; threats of claim even easier.

"Well, the stakeholder meetings _I_ go to are much more boring, I promise you," she quipped and eyed the dark haired woman's amused smirk, calculating the level of risk she could afford. Rumiko had known Tony's nomad lifestyle of nowadays thanks to their crisp but reasonably decent split four years ago. She knew Tony like she knew herself; unwilling to indulge into the darker sides to keep the façade up of things moving fine. 

It had been a dreadfully sweltering day when Tony had come swooping into her condo, a bunch of fragrant lilies in hand and a frustrated break up speech on his lips. Rumiko had kissed the speech off his lips, thrown the lilies back in his arms, and painted the town red with extra vigour that night. Tony had been a little too sad and she had pulled back a little too much, but they had found their way back to a neutral, fun ground. 

Rumiko always said that they'd had their moment.  A simple, silly moment, but it had been good and enough. Now, that moment was over but Rumiko still knew that her old, chronically romantic lover would risk limb and leg to pull a heroic save.

The mob boss draped all over Rumiko's chair at the moment somehow suggested that he wouldn't find it easy.

"Why bring in Ty?" the Japanese heiress asked, changing track and hoping to gain time.

The woman, Big M as one of her henchmen had called her, flicked a look at the unconscious body seated near Rumiko and quirked a bitter smile.

"Oh, but Tony has never been able to resist a little blond memory," Big M traced the arm rest with a long finger, "Consider this to be, hmm, a bonus."

Rumiko would have shot a snarky remark when her eye caught a shadow in the mirror on the dresser behind Big M. A shadow with a hint of red.

 _Let the fire begin_ , she thought as she clenched her hands into fist, knowing that she would have to react fast once her bonds were cut.

Tony wasn't the best bet for stealth in anything, and he had never claimed to be otherwise either. It was surprising then, how he had managed to keep his dual existence a secret between leap years. He felt his red and gold mask seal shut over his face and clenched his gauntlets as he waited for the bald henchman near Whitney to get distracted.

The gold bodysuit, and red and gold mask, were a part of Yinsen's plan. It was also probably inspired by Tony's own obsession with playing knight, but he knew better than to drive down that lane now. The bulkier body armour, also in red and gold, were both shield and sword for firefights. The hidden panels of flares, miniaturized paralyzers, and a wealth of other weapons made the armour invincible. 

Tony and Pepper had gone through a long argument over  _that_ enough times. Rhodey tended to not take sides when those happened but Tony did catch sight of him eyeing the armour with interest often.

He was broken out of his musings when he caught the henchman look away from Rumiko for a moment, to see something to her right, and Tony took his opportunity. Raising his hand and training his special repulsion energy blasting beamer onto the man, Tony fired and pushed into the room, shattering glass as he barged in through the window.

"Iron Man!" Whitney cried and leapt up with the grace that came from a slew of previous fights and paranoia of a lifetime, "Finally! I thought you'd lost your touch of romanticism."

"Big M," Tony kept up the pretense of code names, "fancy seeing the Maggia in Manhattan. Weren't you setrled in Brooklyn now?"

"Keeping tabs on old friends, Tony?" Whitney laughed as she circled the captives positioned between her and Tony, "I must admit, I'm touched."

"You were always unforgettable, Gia," Tony quipped and kept pace with her as he circled Rumiko too, "Now, why don't you let them go and we settle your worries better?"

Whitney's golden mask glinted as she came to a stop right behind Rumiko.  "Tempting, my love," Whitney cocked her gun behind Rumiko's head and smiled sweetly at Tony, "But I refuse."

The action started with a flurry as Tony shot a repulsor beam at Whitney but she dodged and gave command to open fire. Tony fell into a fight with two men who complied with Whitney's order and could hear shouts coming from the floor below him.

Whitney herself lunged at Tony but a bullet ricocheted off her mask and she whirled around to see the smirk of Bethany Cabe before she had to duck under the fire of bullets her way.

Pepper entered behind Bethany and crouched low to the floor, moving swiftly towards Rumiko.

"Hold still," she said and placed a mini lockpicker on the metal bonds around the woman's wrists. The device worked its charm and Rumiko pulled her legs closer to free them too. 

"Stone called Tony?" Pepper asked as she pulled them back, using the sofa as cover. Rumiko got busy freeing Tiberius from his own bonds and snorted at Pepper.

"She needed the theatrics and he's been stalking me in hopes of settling some old grudge match with Tony," the dark haired woman shook her head as she pulled the gag out of Ty's mouth, "Considered me a trophy, I presume."

"Stone as usual," Pepper grunted and flinched when a bullet strayed too close to the sofa's side, "We've got to get out of here."

Rumiko nodded and slapped Tiberius as hard as she could, clapping a hand over his mouth when he yelped awake.

"Don't talk, follow us, and don't stop," she said before nodding at Pepper, "You got any spare weapons for me?"

"Grab what you get," Pepper said as she waited for a break before sprinting to the other end of the room, crouching low to avoid firing. Rumiko glanced around and found a thrown dagger nestled on a wall a few feet away from them. Making a mad dash for it, she wrenched it off the wall and followed Pepper's route, snapping her fingers at a fumbling Ty. Her last visual before they jumped out of the window was of Tony handling fire from four people and Bethany throwing vicipus punches at a snarling Big M.

Whoever won today, Rumiko was sure that the consequences would be heavy to pay.

-×-×-×-×-

"You're sure about this," Steve repeated for the third time since they left for their destination, his statements always sounding like questions.

"You don't trust me, do you?" Natasha asked as she shot him an amused look from the passenger's seat.

"You have sources in dishonest men, Nat," Steve quirked a small grin of exasperation and got a huff in reply.

"Honesty, dishonesty. You trust too much in distinct boundaries, Cap," she scoffed, the old nickname slipping easy after two years of friendship, "Truth is a matter of circumstances, not character."

"Feet off my dash, Ms. Cryptic," Steve eyed her sneakers in mock disdain and rolled his eyes when she took them off with a theatrical sigh.

They had gotten a tip-off from one of Natasha's sources, this time apparently a highly trusted one, about one of Iron Man's allies living in one of the quieter areas of Queens. A hacker, Natasha had said as she had pulled him out of his funk and taken a day off herself to do some undercover work, unofficially. Steve had been hesitant at first to put her in trouble with the department but Clint had covered for them and had told Steve to nab some bullies instead of worrying. 

Steve knew that there would be no nabbing but he had a burning bitterness in his gut and any chance to know more about the cunning Iron Man or his allies would help him expose the man later. 

They cut into the right neighbourhood and Steve thanked his stars that they had taken his second hand blue Eagle and not Natasha's flashier red hatchback. The lesser they attracted attention to themselves, the easier the mission would go. 

"12A, Parker," Natasha gestured to a fairly rundown looking building, "One male and one female."

"Weapons alert?" Steve palmed his Glock hidden under his jacket and eyed the building for exits.

"Negative," Natasha pulled her hair up and tied it into a quick ponytail, "Target's a hacker alone. Just a little too genius."

"That's the dangerous type," Steve muttered and opened the car door, picking up his car keys and locking the car when Natasha got out too.

"Couple lost for apartment renting?" Natadha asked and Steve shrugged, pulling his jacket straighter.

"Let's go with newly married. Honeymoon talk reels them in or leaves them uncomfortable," he said and heard her laugh quietly.

"I've trained you well," she admitted and came around the car to link her arm through the crook of his, "Let's go get a clue, darling."

Steve shot her a fake smile but began walking towards their destination in calm, casual steps.

The place was on the second floor of the building and Steve had identified three exit options on his way up. His free hand flexed as they came to stand in front of the nondescript door with just a number above it and a doorbell to its side. Squeezing Natasha's hand once, he took a breath and pressed the buzzer.

There was a brief shuffle heard from inside before they heard a woman ask someone to open the door. A few moments later, the door swung open to a brown haired teenager with ear phones hanging from his neck and a mild scowl on his face. He was wearing a white shirt that said that  _The physics is theoretical but the fun is real._

"Yeah?" he asked when Steve didn't find words at first and Natasha squeezed Steve's arm in warning before shooting the kid a warm smile that would foold the best men.

"Hi, I'm Elise and this is Grant, my husband," she said with a fake hesitant tone, "Is this, um, is this the Parker residence? Mr. Jones told us to talk to you about renting the apartment next door?"

"What? Oh, uh, sure," the kid blinked twice before hollering for someone inside, "Aunt May, someone's here about Gwen's apartment!"

"Who is it, Peter, what.." a middle aged brunette came out to the hall, wiping her hands on a rag before looking at her guests, "Sorry, who're you?"

"Hello, Ms. Parker," Natasha smiled at the woman, "Sorry to intrude, but Mr. Jones told us to speak to you regarding the apartment next door? We were passing through the place today and thought we could step in, if you don't mind...?"

"Oh. Oh! Sure, come on in," the woman, May, looked at the kid before waving them in, "Sorry, Trip Jones did call me about you coming this week, but I completely forgot. Please, do come in."

Steve shot her a pleasant smile and followed Natasha as they entered the home, noting the perplexed but wary looks the kid, Peter, was shooting them.

Natasha was a maverick in making people believe what she wanted them to, and in about 20 minutes, they were chatting like long lost friends.

"So we know that this is a school friendly neighbourhood," Steve said, accepting the cup of tea with a polite smile, "but we didn't ask much about it. Your son goes to the same school of this place?"

"Son...oh Peter's my nephew," May shook her head and smiled at the boy, "and he goes to Public 108."

"Ah, Midtown High School!" Steve nodded, filing the information away in his mind, "That's a good one. Good basketball team. You play, Peter?"

"No," Peter replied, a forced half smile on his face even as the tapping of his fingers gave away his nervousness, "Aunt May, I've got a ... project for tomorrow. I'll just run down to Ned's and grab some notes, okay? Okay, bye!"

Steve saw Natasha eye the boy as he grabbed a hoodie from the coat-rack near the door and knew that she was thinking the same thing as him.

The kid knew something that he probably shouldn't be knowing. Unless, he was someone he probably shouldn't be either.

"Smart kid," Steve commented mildly and watched May smile fondly.

"He's got a good brain and heart, that boy," she said and Steve waited for her to continue, "Just some old twitchiness and energy of a teenage kid, too."

Steve bet that some of that came from knowing people from the shadows too. He excused himself after a while in the pretext of an important call and slipped out of the house. He pulled out his phone and dialled a familiar number 

"Hey, Sharon," he eyed the road ahead of him, "Track a number for me, would you? Name's Peter Parker, Queens, Midtown High. Tell me if you can find out where our Mr. Parker is right now."

Peter took another right and slipped into the narrow alley right beside Hell's Kitchen. He trashed his bike there and crouched near the dumpster.

With shaking fingers, he picked out his phone and flipped through a few screens before cursing.

"Shit, shit,  _shit_ ," he cursed under his breath and tried to divert the pings of multiple scans of his phone. He threw open the specialized software Mr. Stark had designed for him in case of police interference. 

"Come on, come on," he tapped in lines of code at breakneck speed, "Divert them."

The screen flashed success after a few tense moments and showed that his number was bounced off to another phone that was travelling another way. Peter sighed in relief and ran a trembling hand over his face.

He didn't know why he believed that the couple were lying when they came in but it had been a keen intuition. Happy called it his 'Spidey sense' and Peter had learbt to trust it more than probably sane, but it always ended up saving his hide. 

Peter still remembered the one time he had ignored it and it had cost the life of -

"Keep it together," he chanted to himself and took a deep breath before pulling up his phone again, dialling his single speed dial number.

"Yeah, hi, it's me," he said and eyed the dumpster beside him, "We need to be careful. I just had two of them drop by at home."

_"Are you okay?"_

"Yeah, uh, no, maybe," he took a breath and spoke in a clearer tone, "I'll manage. But we need to amp up security."

_"Alright. I'll activate Code Jocasta. But Spidey..?"_

"I know, I'll put it on standby."

The fifteen year old shut his phone and rested his head on the brick wall behind him. He would have a lot of security to put up now.

But he knew that there were others who needed to be warned too now.

It seemed like a war had begun. And Peter didn't want to be unprepared for it.

Not with what he had at stake.

-×-×-×-

Tony watched Rhodey stared down Tiberius' face as Rumiko sipped on a martini with Pepper. He hadn't removed his armour or mask yet and mildly relished the way Ty's eyes looked nervous when they glanced his way every now and then.

"Tell me in detail and don't lie," Rhodey said with dangerous calm as he trained his gun near Ty' forehead casually, "Who tipped you to visit Rumiko and who spoke about Tony?"

"I didn't mean to -" Tiberius' fumbling was cut off by a yelp when Rhodey stunned him on the ear with his gun.

"Answer what you're asked, buddy," Rhodey suggested and raised an eyebrow at the blond man before him.

"I don't know his name," Tiberius said, eyes ticking nervously from Rhodey to Tony, "I was told to meet him in the ground behind the bureau and to come without phones on me. He met me there and told me that Tony was alive and that I could get my revenge on him if I took Rumiko as bait."

"How did the Maggia fit in?" Rhodey asked and Tiberius looked shifty but flinched when Rhodey cocked his gun.

"I didn't trust the guy so I hired the Maggia to do his job," he said and gulped, "But when they came to Rumiko's apartment, Big M knocked me out saying that she was taking over."

"Easiest takeover for her," Tony huffed as he remembered Whitney dropping a kiss to his mask through her mask before jumping off the roof onto a truck and rushing out.

_Don't forget me, Tony, I won't let you now._

"Listen, I don't know anything-"

"How did he look?" Rhodey cut Tiberius off with a cool look. The corrupt businessman and ex-friend of Tony looked dubious but spoke up under the unyielding stares.

"I don't know clearly. We met at night and he said that the fuse was off on the groubd lights," Tiberius said and Tony felt a chill run down his spine.

"How did you see him then?"

"He had a flashlight," Tiberius said with a grimace and looked up at Rhodey, "He was wearing a cap so I couldn't catch his profile all that well, but he had blue eyes. That was the most distinctive feature visible."

"You didn't see this stranger well and you still believed him enough to risk this?" Rhodey raised an eyebrow.

"I had reason to believe him," Tiberius said with a bitter laugh, "After all, why would a cop tell me such a thing otherwise?"

"Cop?" Tony sat up straighter and saw Tiberius shoot him a disdainful glare.

"He flashed his badge at me first and then told me that he was going to ruin Iron Man," the blond man smirked a bit, "Looks like you met your match there, Marc Anthony."

Tony saw Rhodey gag Ty and tell Happy that they were going to give him something to help him forget a few things. But it was all a haze as his ears buzzed with the rush of blood.

Cop. Blue eyes. 

"Well, I'll better be off. I've got a date planned to pick up in an hour. You'll fix this, right, genius?" Rumiko asked as she moved up behind him, a small smile on her lips even as her dark eyes looked trouble.

"Yeah," Tony grit out as he remembered a pair of blue eyes from an old warehouse, "I think it's time I did."

Maybe permanently.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hit the comment button to tell me if you'd like more ;)

**Author's Note:**

> If you want a continuation of this or a sequel, drop a comment.


End file.
